Tutorial Two

In tutorial two we looked at using cameras and their possible applications. We had the opportunity to try out different camera functions and talked about how we may apply this to OT practice.

1) “A new technology is rarely superior to an old one in every feature.” Briefly discuss this statement in relation to digital camera technology. What would you consider to be some of the pluses and minuses of digital camera technology holds in relation to more traditional film based cameras?
With digital cameras, it is important to have the images backed up onto a separate hard drive or discs as often something happens such as a computer crashing then all of the images stored on there may be lost and there is no way to get them back. However, with traditional film cameras, photos can also be lost due to fires or theft or simply misplacing them. These will not be able to be retrieved once lost.

Todays method of using digital images is a lot cheaper for printing as you are able to see what the image will be like prior to printing it, thus ensuring only appropriate images are printed. Film cameras can work out very expensive because the whole role has to be developed and it is hard to ensure the desired image has been captured.

Photos are no longer as treasured as they used to be as with digital images you can take as many as you like and simply delete what you dont want to keep.

Digital images allow photos to be easily shared via the internet or disc so they are much more easily accessable. They are also much easier to store as they take up no room.

2) List some of the ways that digital images can be stored, transferred and manipulated using other communications technology.
digital images can be stored on computer hard drives, external harddrives, CD rom, memory sticks, on the internet on sites such as flickr or on social networking sites to name a few.

3) Given the prevalence of image capturing devised, and thinking about the issues discussed in tutorial one, consider what sort of ethical issues arise with their use.

It is much harder to ensure consent for content to be published is given for digital images. images can be taken without permission more easily. if it is online, anyone can copy and paste it and edit it to make it look how they want it too.

4) Briefly discuss some of the ways that digital images could, or are, being used in occupational therapy practice (include references and links to any web sites, or blogs you might come across).
It is common to see occupational therapists take photos of environments that need to be modified because this captures exactly what they need to do and shows what they have to work with.
Often photos are used in pamphlets for patients that explain equipment or reccomendations etc.
Photos are also a useful visual tool to show clients specific steps in a task. this may include the best options for positioning or transfers, and even in daily planners and schedules.

5) Provide a brief summary of the services offered by Flickr.com
Flickr is a video and image hosting website and could possibly be considered an online community. You can store, organise and share photos with ease in practically no time at all.



6) Name one other photo storage website which offers a service similar to Flickr.com
Photo galaxy

7) Explain what the difference is between digital and optical zoom.
Optical zoom; works like a zoom lens on a film camera. As it is zoomed the lens changes focal length and magnification which means that image quality is high throughout the zoom range.
Digital zoom; crops the image to a smaller size which after it enlarges this cropped section to fill the frame. This means the quality decreases greatly.